ABSTRACT
The chapter argues that famine scenes were highly popular in the long eighteenth century and that hunger was a site of protest across different esthetic conventions. It focuses on several representations of the historical episode of the Madrid famine of 1811–1812 during the Spanish Peninsular War, and shows how this traumatic event was approached by artists in different ways. Francisco de Goya portrays the plight of starving people in his Desastres de la Guerra, a collection of etchings that focuses on suffering and violence in a very simple, intimate format. From Rome, Neoclassic painter José Aparicio creates the monumental El año del hambre de Madrid, the most famous painting in his time, that stresses the heroic attitude of those who refused the food offered by the French troops. The changing reception of these and other works can help us to elucidate the many uses of hunger in politics and art, especially in connection with issues of Spanish national identity that return to foundational moments in the history of Spain such as Calagurria and Numantia, sites of rebellion against invaders where an imposed siege is turned into a symbolic hunger strike, turning victims into symbolic agents of change.
